Actually I was able to mine from almost the very start. I think I connected around block 86 or 87 which isn't so bad. Seems most coins I get connected way later than that.
I've been mining in suprnova's pool which has been up and running since that point.
I've currently got an display issue @ the pool where hashrate seems to drop out, this is just a display issue, your hashrate is fine over all the time. I've introduced some memcache patches which should lower the load on the server, this is probably the error. I'm fixing this currently, don't worry, your rigs are stable and running fine.